display acted
like a beacon, and Alice tried to get closer, but only succeeded in shoving the
phone farther away from her.
"Damn it all to hell and
back." Alice bit back the tears of frustration as the phone once again
stopped. The door to her room flung open, and she blinked in the sudden light
from the hall way. Silhouetted against the light like an avenging angel, Lakota
stood in her doorway. He flicked the light switch and scowled down at her,
every imposing inch of him, screaming his annoyance at having been wrenched
from his slumber. With his dark hair hanging loose around his face, and wearing
nothing but low slung pajama bottoms, Alice had a far too arousing view of her
husband to be. Just as she'd suspected he was all muscle, with a light dusting
of dark hair over his chest, narrowing down to an enticing trail that
disappeared under the elastic of his nightwear, that barely hid his arousal.
Alice swallowed nervously as his dark
eyes connected with hers, all too aware of her own state of undress under the
twisted sheet. The phone lying halfway between them pinged to let her know she
had a voice mail message, and it galvanized them both into action.
With one fluid move Lakota crossed the
distance, picked up the phone and pulled Alice up with his other hand, while he
read her phone display. His scowl deepened, and Alice snatched the phone away
from him. With his other arm still ‘round her waist she was far too close to
him, and her wayward body reacted to his nearness with embarrassing
predictability. Moisture coated her thighs, and her nipples beaded against the
sheet. His nostrils flared as though he could smell her need for him, and Alice
wanted the ground to swallow her up. She sought refuge in anger instead.
"Give me that, and let go of me, now."
Lakota's eyebrows rose, and his gaze
zoomed to her breasts. They ached under his heated perusal, and Alice swallowed
her groan. Instead of letting her go, Lakota picked her up and dumped her on
the bed instead.
"Forgive me for saving your sorry
ass. You made enough noise to wake up the dead. Next time I hear you scream and
there's a crash in your room, I'll leave you to it, shall I? You were doing so
well for yourself after all. Make it a habit to sleep on the floor, do
you?"
"Of course not. I stumbled trying
to get to get the phone and dammit—?" Her mum's phone was now unavailable, and she
feverishly punched the button for her voicemail. The thing froze on her, and
she swore again. Lakota's large hand closed over hers, and tugged the phone
away from her.
"Let me. You'll break it at this
rate." She would have resisted, but something in the compassionate tone of
his voice let her relinquish control—just this once.
In no time at all he brought up her
messages, and her heart missed a beat when he raised the phone to her ear.
Sirens were blaring in the back ground, and she barely understood her mum's
thick voice.
"It's Beth. Alice, she can't
breathe. I need you. Where are you? I've got to go…"
Fear froze Alice to the spot for one
horrifying moment, before she tried to get up. She had to get away. Away from
him and this nightmare situation and she had to help her mum and Beth. God, little
Beth. She had to be all right, she just had to be. The doctors had warned of
this complication, the tumor so close to her lungs could cut off her air
supply, but it was too dangerous to operate, unless they absolutely had to.
"I have to go. I have to get away
from here. My mum, my niece, they need me. Damn it, let me go."
Tears blinded her vision as the whole
horror of her situation crashed down on her. She was a few good hours' drive
from London, completely at the mercy of this man, who just sat there and
watched her with that unsettling dark gaze that stripped away all of her
defenses. And he wouldn't just let her leave, would he?
"Where have they taken her?"
"What?" The question
confused her, and she tried to focus past the rushing in her ears.
"Your niece? Where